Jump to content

kkhartung

Members
  • Posts

    4
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About kkhartung

  • Birthday 01/06/1968

kkhartung's Achievements

Newbie

Newbie (1/14)

0

Reputation

  1. Wow, thank you for all the great advise! I will consider all of this. Kris
  2. I had sort of a vegan nutritional meltdown last week and had to revamp my daily intake, but I'm still now where I need to be in terms of my protein intake. I don't typically calory count because I don't have an issue with weight, but to show a friend my daily diet, I decided to itemize my typical daily intake and calculate the calories in a spreadsheet. It was roughly 2500 a day, and I am still losing about 1-2 pounds a month. I am 42 years old, 5' 11" and now weigh 172 lbs. However, for the last few months I have been a bit frustrated with not being able to build more mass in my chest, and I just keep getting leaner and leaner, and I'm sure my body fat is below 9% by now (it was below 9% 3 months ago). And I have been pushing it pretty hard in the gym when I work my chest. I am not complaining mind you...I feel and look great, and I have absolutely no intention in "bulking" up. I prefer the more lean and natural look....so I am really talking about just a few more inches of added muscle mass. My last measurement was 2 months ago and my chest was 40 inches...can't seem to get past that. I would like to be about 42 or 43. Side note: I'm not just working my chest, but I work my entire body throughout the week, chest 1-2 times a week. Anyway, I decided calculate the grams of protein within my daily intake spreadsheet...and holy crap! I was intaking only 100g of protein! Good grief! No wonder. I am not even sure how I have been functioning, except that my body must be operating very efficiently. So I started to re-tool my diet a few days ago. I have been searching for food that has a high protein to calorie ratio, which I am finding to be somewhat challenging. I can eat a lot of tofu, tempe, soy milk, nuts, etc thoughout the day, but the calories just keep piling up and the protein does not increase proportionately. The only way I can fix this without eating like a horse all day long or intaking 4000 calories day, is to take supplements. That is just my perception of course....I must be missing something. I researched Vegan protein supplements, and both soy and hemp still come up with high protein to calorie ratios, with some others thrown in there as well. So I increased my soy powder intake by 2X, and then added a hemp/pea/rice based protein power as well...basicallly I am drinking three protein powerder/soy milk shakes a day! But the increase put me up to 156g of protein. Still not where I need to be, but better. Any other suggestions? How can I remedy this? Here is a spreadsheet so you can see my calculations. This is just my typical daily diet. Any help would be greatly appreciated. http://www.box.net/shared/dtx6ynjnps Kris
  3. 1 cup of cooked quinoa Handful of sprouts 1 chopped tomato 1 or 1/2 sliced avocado Couple handfuls of chopped romaine lettuce 1/3cup of quartered walnuts 1 cup of steamed broccoli 1 cup of chopped firm tofu, broiled until crispy on top and seasoned with ground pepper, garlic salt, and Indian Masala seasoning (if you don't have this, you can substitute with cumin and cayenne pepper) 1 sprouted wheat tortilla, toasted and broken into pieces Season the salad with ground pepper Dress with balsamic vinegar http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs107.snc4/35735_436257438273_666353273_5644868_5940991_n.jpg
  4. kkhartung

    Hello

    Hello, I am so glad I found this site. It will be great to correspond with like-minded people. I became a Vegan a year ago, about the same time I started going to the gym and and working out 4-5 times a week. Between these two things, I transformed my life completely. Why I became Vegan? It is sort of an interesting evolution of the way I think about my health, food, and the environment. A good friend of mine has been Vegan for many years, and I went to San Diego stay with him for a week. I thought it would be fun to shadow his diet for a week. The food was really good and it was a lot easier on my digestive system. There were times when I was eating Vegan food and it didn't even know it. If prepared right, many people wouldn’t notice. The Melinium in San Franscisco, a Vegan restaurant, is an excellent stop, btw...and they have cook books! Oustanding, 5 Star Vegan food. Anyway, my friend said one thing to me that really sunk in, which was the best thing you can do for the environment is to stop eating meat. I didn't know what this meant until later on. So when I got home, I attempted to maintain the Vegan diet, first by eliminating beef, eggs, and milk. That was actually very easy. It was a gradual thing. I eliminated chicken and then eventually fish. Cheese was the last thing to go, and was the hardest. Now I read all the labels, because the marketing of food is incredibly deceiving. At the same time, when I started this new way of life, I also started going to a private trainer to get back into shape. With weight training, cardio, and the Vegan diet, I reduced my body fat from 25% to less than 9%, my waist by 4 inches, my weight by 20 pounds, and my cholesterol from 200 to 130. I also gained muscle mass in my chest and arms and flattened my stomach. My trainer said I was a case study example, because I went through this transformation in only 4 months, and she hadn't seen that with anyone before. BTW, I also cut caffeine out of my diet, which has given me a lot of energy, and my energy level is consistent throughout the day. I really don't need it. It actually makes me tired. That comment about the environment eventually began to resonate with me, after seeing documentaries like Food, Inc and King Corn, doing research, etc. The mass meat industry is a completely disgusting, irresponsible, and unethical enterprise, who cares nothing about the health of America, but only the bottom line. Using millions of acres of farmland to grow corn that is not even edible by humans, but can only be used to feed cows (for the fast food industry, and cows aren’t even designed to eat that corn, which means they have to give them tons of hormones and drugs to survive, which make their way to us, and so on down the food chain), and make high fructose corn syrup to put in soda pop and half of the other processed foods you see in the grocery store, is the most inefficient way to make food. It is environmentally irresponsible. That land could be used to grow high protein edible food that would benefit the entire world, people are malnourished or starving while America gets fat eating at McDonalds. Incidentally, I am not an animal ethicist and don't have an issue with killing animals for food in moderation. I was raised on a farm and have seen things that would make most city people vomit. My argument is mainly environmental, ecological, and health related. Plus, it is a challenge to be physically fit and maintain a healthy and high protein Vegan diet…and I LOVE challenges. So, that's my story. I eat mostly clean and unprocessed food, and I feel outstanding. I am in better health than I was in my 20s. Now, I do have a more technical qeustion that I'll post in another forum, regarding my protein intake....I've hit some challenges here. Kris
×
×
  • Create New...